Elon Musk, Apple co-founder, other tech experts call for pause on ‘giant AI experiments’
“Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and a host of other tech leaders and artificial intelligence experts are urging AI labs to pause development of powerful new AI systems in an open letter citing potential risks to society.
The letter asks AI developers to ‘immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.’…”
Related:
John Anderson speaks with Professor John Lennox on Artificial Intelligence.
“In 2020, Lennox published 2084 – Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity, which covers key developments in technological enhancement, bioengineering and AI. In the book, he discusses the current state of AI – its benefits, dangers and future implications. …”
“This is not futuristic speculation – this is already happening.”
The King?
“On that first Palm Sunday there were joy, acclamation, and tears. Yet, five days later the unthinkable occurred: Jesus was put to death by crucifixion. The contrast between the first Palm Sunday when crowds acclaimed Jesus as king and the day he was strung up on a cross, could not have been more stark. …”
– John Mason reflects on the twin themes of Palm Sunday and Good Friday – at The Anglican Connection.
Sin, addictions and faith based therapy
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“How do we as pastors help people with addictions? Addictions to alcohol, gambling, narcotics, gaming and sex addictions.
How much is sin? How much is addiction?
Penny Wilkinson and her husband Andrew direct the Overcomers Outreach ministry and the Overcomers Place in Sydney.”
– Watch or listen at The Pastor’s Heart. Very helpful.
Why it’s not enough to be a ‘Bible teaching Church’
“When my appointment to St Andrew’s Cathedral was announced about 18 months ago, a godly old Methodist minister wrote to me. He kindly thanked me for my ministry in Wollongong but added this note of caution: ‘Don’t let your boast be, “We are a Bible teaching church”. But rather, like St Paul… “We preach Christ, and him crucified”.’
Was my older Methodist colleague right? …”
– Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant writes at SydneyAnglicans.net.
(Also published in the current Southern Cross magazine.)
Preaching Hope on Good Friday
“The late Professor Chris O’Brien, after whom the Life House is named at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital said, ‘Everyone needs hope, we live on hope’.
We normally associate hope with resurrection and so preach hope on Easter Sunday, but this year I am going to preach hope on Good Friday.
The Christian life is full of hope because hope is based on promise, and God reveals himself as the God who makes promises to his people. His promises are the basis of our hope. …”
– David Cook has this encouragement for preachers at The Expository Preaching Trust.
Photo: David Cook at St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in August 2022.
A prayer for the NSW State election
From Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant:
Almighty God and Loving Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you to direct the hearts of those who seek election to our state parliament, and of us as we exercise our democratic freedoms.
May we vote unselfishly for the common good.
Protect politicians from the temptation of self-serving. Enable them to make realistic promises and help them keep their word.
Uphold those elected to serve in the new Parliament through all the heavy demands that come upon them, that they may serve with integrity.
May the decisions of our parliaments, state and federal, lead to the safety and welfare of this country, so that peace and happiness, truth and justice may be established among us. Amen.
“Airbags on Pokies” — The Dean of Sydney
Sandy Grant, the Dean of Sydney, writes about the choice before NSW voters this Saturday –
“Friends in Christ, I encourge you to join me in this prayer for our State, with the election of a new Parliament this Saturday, 25th March:
Almighty God and Loving Heavenly Father, we humbly ask you to direct the hearts of those who seek election to our state parliament, and of us as we exercise our democratic freedoms. May we vote unselfishly for the common good. Protect politicians from the temptation of self-serving. Enable them to make realistic promises and help them keep their word. Uphold those elected to serve in the new Parliament through all the heavy demands that come upon them, that they may serve with integrity. May the decisions of our parliaments, state and federal, lead to the safety and welfare of this country, so that peace and happiness, truth and justice may be established among us. Amen.
As you know, I have spoken strongly in favour of reforms to prevent and minimise harm from poker machine use, which currently sees people in NSW lose $8 billion a year. That’s about $23 million per day! And the worst losses are often in the poorer areas of our city.
I have been calling for reform for almost 15 years, since I first became aware of the dreadul damage done by poker machines on their users and families.”
– Read it all at the Cathedral website.
Image: If only modern poker machines took bets of just 25 cents.
Boldy and unapologetically trembling at God’s word – with Phil Colgan and Paul Grimmond
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“We are not called to be entertainers, but preachers. How might we as individuals and as leaders of God’s people tremble before him? And are we going soft on this?
What is the connection between the text and the preacher? As a preacher, how long since you have been rebuked and repented? How has your world view has been challenged recently?
Paul Grimmond is Dean of Students at Sydney’s Moore Theological College.
Phil Coglan is senior pastor at Sydney’s St George North Anglican Church.”
March — April 2023 issue of Southern Cross now out
The March — April 2023 issue of Southern Cross magazine, produced by Anglican Media Sydney, is out now.
Copies will be available in churches.
As well, you can download a PDF version, or read online, at sydneyanglicans.net/about/southerncross.
Moore College welcomes back Peter Jensen to launch his latest book on The Life of Faith
“On Tuesday night Matthias Media held a book launch for Peter Jensen’s new book The Life of Faith: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine at Moore College. The event was a resounding success, drawing an engaged and enthusiastic audience of over 80 people.
Peter’s book is the fruit of his more than thirty years of teaching Christian doctrine. Many graduates during Peter’s time as Principal of Moore College can testify to the brilliance of his teaching and the invaluable resource his lecture notes have been over the years. These are now, freshly edited, available more widely. …”
– Full report and photos at the Moore College website.
Photo: Archbishop Kanishka Raffel, Carmelina Read and Archbishop Peter Jensen with the new book. Courtesy Moore College.
A Legacy (Thus Far) Marked by ‘Bewildering Ambiguity’: Pope Francis Reaches 10 Years as Papal Leader
In today’s issue (15 March 2023) of The Briefing, Dr Albert Mohler looks at the first ten years of the papacy of Francis.
“He represents so much of the muddled liberalism of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries…”
How can we best support gospel growth beyond our church? — with Mikey Lynch
From The Pastor’s Heart:
“How might our church best relate to other organisations (churches, denominations and parachurches) who are also engaged in the grand cause of reaching the world for Christ?
What is the difference between a church and parachurch and how might they best interact? …
Mikey Lynch is a Director of Reach Australia and is the new editorial director for the Gospel Coalition Australia. Mikey leads the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students staff team doing ministry in Hobart at the University of Tasmania.
Matthias Media have just released his new book ‘The Vine Movement – supporting gospel growth beyond your church.’…”
And also note how you can support the coming “Heart of GAFCON” broadcasts from Kigali.
How to Organise an Epic Bible Reading
Last week we linked to an article by Simon Camilleri on Epic Bible Reading at your Church.
In a follow-up post, he shares some practical tips on getting your church involved:
“In a nutshell, I recommend that before you break up a book of the Bible for a sermon series or a Bible Study you should gather together and read through the entire book—out loud from start to finish in one session.
In this article I am going to give some tips from my own experience, for the eager and the apprehensive, on how you can run an Epic Bible Reading at your church. …”
– Read it here.
If lost people matter to God…
“…if lost people matter to God, then they should matter to us as well. After all, we were lost in our sin, till we put our trust in Christ. So as someone once said, evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.
But are we as keen to share the good news of Christ Jesus, as we are to share our best back remedy?”
– In the latest Cathedral Newsletter, Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant shares some encouragement after reflecting on a recent Church Record post.
Hold your horses
“A few days ago I was at Wycliffe Hall, speaking to some Anglican ordinands about why everyone should do rural ministry. Unsurprisingly the conversation soon turned to LLF, and that General Synod vote. Since I am a member of Synod, I was quizzed about what had happened. After a bit, one student asked me, “Given what’s happened, how can you be so upbeat”? …
I don’t think I have seen such a strong, broad and deep evangelical unity in the Church of England as I see now. It often takes an emergency to bring a group together, and that is precisely what has happened.”
– At Church Society’s blog, Church Society Regional Director the Rev Dr Chris Moore argues that ‘this is the time to stand up, not to walk away’.
Photo: Diocese of Hereford.
Related:
Thirty years ago, the Rev John Richardson travelled from the UK to study short-term at Moore College. (This was before the rejuvenation of Oak Hill College in London.)
While in Sydney, he wrote an article which was published in the ACL’s newsletter. (UK Evangelicalism: Optimistic? – PDF version)
At the time, he was not optimistic about the future of Evangelicalism in the Church of England, and argued that strong evangelical leadership was needed –
“You cannot head off a stampede by calling the cows to come back. If the present debacle in English Evangelicalism is to be arrested it will require people of courage and vision who are prepared to go out ahead of the herd, to kick, to shout and to make a noise, so that those who are genuinely Christian, but who are so much like sheep without a shepherd, may be brought back to the good pastures.”
Do continue to pray for evangelical clergy in the Church of England, that they would be given great wisdom by the Lord.
And do pray that the new evangelical unity of which Dr Moore speaks will be effective for the gospel.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…